Shopping Coupons - 03-27-2009

The weekend is here, which means -- SHOPPING TIME! Yes?

Here are some of the deals I've scoped out for this weekend...

Kohls

15% OFF - TAKE15NSAVE

20% OFF when you buy $100 or more PLUS free shipping - BUY2SAVE

Old Navy

They are having a sale right now offering 40% off - that's the best I can do for now. If I find something I'll be sure to update.

Bealls * Palais Royal * Stage

20% OFF Printable Coupon

Limited Too

30% OFF - 776

SEARS

$5 OFF $50 - SWELCOME07298

That's all I have for now... will let you know if something GOOD comes up.

Happy 1st Birthday Evelyn

Evelyn is turning ONE today.

Let's look back on her first year...





















Here's to another kid surviving in our household. Happy Birthday Baby Girl... I hope you keep being the sweet spunky little thing you are.

Love,

Mom

Emily - School Brag

We had parent-teacher conferences last week. I'm really happy with the kids' progress. I'm sure there is more I could be doing to help them do better in school, but maintaining the household on my own drains me... so I'm just happy they are doing well.

Emily is doing awesome in 1st grade. In the beginning I was apprehensive about it because I tend to focus more on reading with the kids when they are at home. Even though we do math exercises of sorts, I don't really focus on it. I'm proud to report that Emily exceeds all benchmark target goals. She got a perfect score on BOTH benchmark test. 100%! I'm so happy she caught on so quickly and even happier that she is not struggling with it because of my lack of instruction.

As far as reading goes.... well, almost every teacher that knows about her scores are in awe. The school district uses the DIBELS benchmark testing. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills.

"Phoneme Segmentation" - she is supposed to separate the individual sounds within a word. The target for this time of the year is 35. Her score is 64.

"Nonsense World Fluency" - she is supposed to use her phonics skills when given a list of make-believe words. The purpose of the test is to see if the student has the ability to put the sounds and letters together to form words. The target for this time of year is at least 50. Her score is 71

"Oral Reading Fluency" - this measures how many words per minute she can read. The text is unfamiliar and the are expected to go in and read. The target for this time of year is 30. Her score is 119. (This is where JAWS DROP. Her oral fluency is that of a fourth grade student at least.)

"Word Usage Fluency" - this measures her vocabulary and oral language abilities. At this time of year they expect the child's score to be above the 40th percentile. Her score is in the 72th percentile... which is OFF THE CHARTS for 1st grade.

As far as her report card goes, she has O's (for Outstanding) for almost EVERYTHING except one subject. Her number grades are all 90 or above (88 for writing this time around - she had a 92 last quarter). Her teacher can't tell me enough what a joy she is to teach because she "has a great curiosity for learning."

As far as socializing with other kids -- she has a bunch of friends in both first grade and kindergarten and is quite popular with both groups. The teacher tells me that her kinder classmates will spot her in the cafeteria and run over to her to say hi and give hugs. I'm so proud of her and I hope she keeps this up.

Okay... bragging over. Thanks for reading.

Trying to encourage art...

I'm a very artsy person. Which means it's super important to me that the kids get some kind of exposure to the fine arts. Back in junior high, I used to play the bass clarinet. In high school I was in choir (soprano) and the whole time I loved to draw and doodle and dabble here and there. I'm thinking of getting Emily started with voice lessons, since she insists on singing the high notes in the national anthem. I'll have to pull out that sheet her music teacher gave me and see what I can do for her.

The following are paintings done by Emily. I'll try and get pictures of the birdhouses we painted as well. Lots of painting going on this week. The paint drops are still stuck to my table as proof.



"Self-portrait"


"Jesus"

Shopping Coupons - 03-13-2009

I love to shop. I love to get a great deal even more.

Stage * Palais Royal * Bealls

$5 OFF any $30 shoe purchase.

25% Any single item.

Gap * Banana Republic * Old Navy

30$ OFF on total purchase.

Kohl's

15% OFF $100 or more
CODE: ADVANTAGE 15

FREE SHIPPING
CODE: SHIPNSAVE2

10% OFF
CODE: NEW8177

JCPenney

20% OFF
CODE: SHOPPER

$10 OFF $10 Purchase
CODE: BUDDING

The Children's Place

15% OFF entire purchase

That's it for now folk... go out and have fun shopping.

Frugal Living

I just got back from Walgreens.

I bought FOUR of the Huggies JUMBO pack on sale for $10 each ($40.00)

• TWO (2) $5.00 Off Coupons

• ONE (1) $3.00 Off Coupon

• ONE (1) $10.00 Register Rewards

( Go to www.coupons.com to print your Huggies coupons. You can print them up to TWO times each for a total of FOUR coupons)

TOTAL OFF -- $23.00

Paid $17.00

NOT BAD... Not bad at all.

Newbs

Long before the economy took a crap, I was already living a very frugal life. So frugal in fact, that I was featured in the ARMY TIMES...



We still follow every single on of these things. What else could I possibly do to cut back expenses? NOT EAT?! (I'm even on a diet! LOL). I have to admit I feel pretty smug about the fact that we've been responsible in our spending since forever. And when I see that commercial about people bragging on ways that they've saved... I just smile to myself and think, "Newbs". LOL

oy...

This is so damn stressful for me. Every day it seems like I get less and less time to myself, to collect my thoughts, to take a SHOWER, or even to just go to the damn toilet without an audience. The kids bicker incessantly and whine or complain just about everything. On the weekends, they are uncooperative and restless since there is not much to do.

This damn diet/weight thing is making me miserable to. I want to be skinny DAMMIT. But the stress of everything prompts me to eat MORE. I wish I could get a few minutes to myself to go run, jog or workout - but it's impossible. Even when I'm trying to do the workout videos at home, it never fails that they want or need something and they interrupt or altogether stop me from doing any form of exercise.

The economy seems to be getting worse by the second according to all the news coverage and the world itself seems to be going in a downward spiral. I just feel like I'm suffocating in this bleak present. I try to look for things that will bring me hope or inspiration of some sort and to tell you the truth I come up short. The moments that make me smile or laugh are far and few.

Ask Me Anything MEME - FRIDGE!

Rules are:

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're interested in it.

Sherri said, "I'd love to see a pic of the outside of your refrigerator :) . Wonder if it's as bad as mine, lol?"

Here's what it looks like! (I included picture of the rest of the kitchen, just in case you were curious.)

Ask Me Anything MEME - Laundry Room

Rules are:

Ask me to take a picture of any aspect of my life that you're interested in. Leave your choice here as a comment, and I will reciprocate by taking the pictures and posting them. That way you get to know a little bit about my life, if you're interested in it.

Loreen said: "uhhhhh, I like to see a pic of your laundry room, lol :0)"

Here it is! Enjoy.


Ask Me Anything MEME - Laundry Room from Peace in the Storm on Vimeo.

Talked to DH today...

We got to see the base camp where he lives. Kids all got to say hi, and fought over who sat in front of the webcam.